title: Christianity and epilepsy.
abstract: Epileptic seizures have been known from time immemorial. Throughout the ages, however, ideas concerning the aetiology and treatment of epilepsy have changed considerably. Epilepsy is mentioned many times in the Pentateuch, where it is portrayed as a mysterious condition, whose symptoms, course and contingencies evade rational laws and explanations. In the Middle Ages, the accepted view which prevailed in social consciousness was that patients with epilepsy were possessed by Satan and other impure spirits. One common method of treatment of epileptic seizures was to submit the patient to cruel exorcisms. Patients were frequently injured in the process and some of them even died. Our understanding of epilepsy and its social consequences has improved considerably within the last century. The most significant progress as far as diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy is concerned took place in the last four decades of the twentieth century. Although we now know much more about epilepsy than we used to, this knowledge is still insufficiently popularized.
authors.affiliation: Zakład Psychologii Medycznej, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, ul. Żwirki i Wigury 81 A, 02-091 Warszawa. krzysztof.owczarek@wum.edu.pl
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Owczarek
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jędrzejczak
mesh_terms: D002835:Christianity / Q000266:history*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000266:history*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D029181:Spirituality; D018599:Witchcraft / Q000266:history*